Agents arrest 23 in El Paso in prescription drug crackdown

From left to right, top row to bottom row, Lorena Soto, Carlos Medina, Miguel Moncada, Arlene Nunez, Gabriel Daniel Comunez and Francisco David Jasper are wanted by authorities in connection with several prescription drug fraud investigations.

More than 20 people were arrested Thursday morning in El Paso in a crackdown on prescription drug fraud, which is the nation's fastest growing drug problem.

The arrests were the result of 16 investigations by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, officials said at a news conference at the El Paso County Courthouse.

Those arrested are accused of selling prescription pills and obtaining pills using phony, stolen and altered prescriptions and "doctor shopping." Doctor shopping is when a person gets a prescription for medicine from various doctors. The buyer can then sell the drugs.

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Daniel Borunda

"So many people think, 'It's medicine. It's not dangerous,'" said Will Glaspy, the special agent in charge of the DEA in El Paso. "But if taken outside a doctor's care, it can be as dangerous and addictive as street drugs such as heroin."

The El Paso investigations involved prescription drugs such as the painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone and alprazolam, a depressant commonly prescribed to treat anxiety, officials said. If misused, the drugs can lead to addiction and overdoses.

State troopers and DEA agents arrested 23 people in connection with four separate drug distribution rings in various parts of the city, officials said. The cases included the suspected sale of stolen metals and the discovery of possible child pornography. Six people are still sought by investigators.

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In one scheme, a woman would call pharmacies with phony prescriptions, including the name of real doctors and the proper codes, DPS Cmdr. Carey Matthews said. The woman would give a false patient name and then send someone to pick up the prescription at the pharmacy.

Law enforcement officials said that the sale of prescription drugs can be a lucrative criminal enterprise.

For example, oxycodone sold at a pharmacy at $1.59 per pill can sell on the street for $15-$20 per pill, according to a chart at news conference.

El Paso District Attorney Jaime Esparza said the illicit sale of prescription drugs is considered a form of organized crime but locally does not appear to involve organized crime groups, such as drug cartels and street gangs.

Esparza said that his office is dealing with more cases involving prescription drug abuse.

"What's important about this is (that) these drug traffickers and the drug users are all here in our community," Glaspy said. "This is not something where we have Mexican cartels importing their drugs through here. These are citizens of our community involved in these crimes and turn around and are either using or selling these fraudulent prescription drugs here in the El Paso area.

"When abused, controlled prescription drugs, or CPDs, can be just as dangerous and addictive as drugs such as methamphetamine and heroin," Glaspy said.

The 2013 National Drug Threat Assessment reported that prescription drug abuse is the nation's fastest growing drug problem. The report stated that prescription drug abuse is second only to the use of marijuana and significantly higher than the use of cocaine and hallucinogens.

Law enforcement and drug-treatment officials across the country report that many prescription drug abusers have turned to heroin as a cheaper and more easily obtained alternative, according to the report.

El Paso, like other cities, is facing a prescription drug abuse problem, Glaspy said. The DEA in El Paso has a squad dedicated to investigating prescription drug fraud.

"Seventy percent of the people who misuse prescription painkillers for the first time report obtaining the drugs from a friend or from relatives and many of them get them from the family medicine cabinet," Glaspy said.